Friezeland Farm in Bosworth, is a pick your own Christmas tree farm. Just over a week ago we decided to head there to get our Christmas tree and also pay a visit to Santa. We originally were planning to spend the day at Center Parcs as we had a one-day visitor pass from a friend who works there. However, the week before our visit Center Parcs had put a hold on guest passes during December, so we weren’t able to go. Unfortunately we’d already told the kids that we were going to Center Parcs for the day, so they were…

Living in Nottingham we’re not that far away from Derbyshire and the Peak District. Now that the twins are that bit older, we’ve started to visit more regularly. In fact, we recently spent half term in a cottage in Hope Valley and had a great time. I thought I’d share some of our suggestions of things to do in the Peak District with kids. Walk up Mam Tor There are lots of walking routes for Mam Tor. However, we decided to follow the National Trust’s Circular route, which was perfect for kids. We’ve written a full post all about our…

We currently staying in the Peak District where we’ve been exploring lots of the local villages and doing various walks. Yesterday we walked up Mam Tor and I thought I’d share our experience (and tips) of walking Mam Tor with kids. I never walked up Mam Tor before and the day before we actually walked it, I didn’t actually think we’d be able to do it with the kids. The night before, I spent time on Google, trying to find out if walking up Mam Tor with kids was actually advisable! During my research I cam across the National Trust’s…

We’re currently staying in the Peak District for October half term and today we paid a visit to the Blue John Cavern, near Castleton in Hope Valley. The Blue John Cavern is home to Blue-Stone Stone, a beautiful purple and yellow mineral that has been mined in the Cavern for many centuries and continues to be mined in the Cavern during the winter months. Oscar is quite into his stones and minerals, so we knew that he’d love visiting the Cavern. We followed the signs from Castleton to the Cavern, which is well signposted. We parked on the adjacent road,…

On Saturday we attended our very first Splendour festival and it proved to be a great family day. Splendour festival has been running for 10 years and is held at Wollaton Park in Nottingham, which is where we live. The past few years we’ve always been on holiday when it’s been held, but as the kids have broken up slightly later this year, we were around, so arranged to go with some friends who also have children. I was a little apprehensive about what it would be like. I’ve never been to a festival before and didn’t really know what…

At the weekend, we went down south to stay with our friends, Emil and Richard. They live in Hemel Hempstead and we regularly go and stay with them for the weekend. In fact, last time we went down I made a little video on our stay, which you can see here. The reason for this trip was to celebrate their little boys second birthday. They had planned a party on the Sunday, so we decided to make a weekend of it and go down on the Friday night and stay with them for two nights. Oscar has recently been covering…

On Friday me, my Mum and my Sister-in-Law took all the children to the zoo for the day. We went to Twycross Zoo, which is about 30 mins from where we live. Since returning from our holiday a few weeks ago, I’ve been a bit grumpy with post-holiday blues. However, our day at the zoo certainly help cheer me up. The weather was lovely, the children were really well behaved and the zoo was perfect for keeping us all entertained. A really great day. Here are a few photo’s to capture the memory: J xx

Although the weather hasn’t been particularly great of late, we’ve been making a real effort to get out and about at weekends. We find being in the house with all the kids can be a little testing at times! We don’t live very far from Derbyshire, so we’ve been trying to take advantage of the lovely countryside it has to offer. A couple of weeks ago, we decided to visit Bakewell for the day. If I’m completely honest, the biggest lure was the prospect of savouring a nice Bakewell tart – one of my fave cakes. I soon discovered that…

Every year, around this sort of time, my Mum and and I have a spa day. Last year we went to Eden Hall, which is one that we’ve been to a few times and a firm favorite. However, this year we were keen to try somewhere new, so after a bit of searching we decided to try Hoar Cross Hall Hotel & Spa in Staffordshire, which is about a 40 minutes drive from us. It looked lovely on the website, but the reviews on Tripadvisor were a bit divided, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I really shouldn’t…

One Friday in the middle of June Oscar’s school had an Inset Day. We decided to make the most of it and have a trip down to Peppa Pig World near Southampton. I’ve wanted to take the kids for a while and thought that this was probably the last year that Oscar would enjoy it as he’s started to outgrow Peppa Pig. We decided that we’d drive down after work on Thursday, stay over close to the park and on Friday we’d stay somewhere which was on the way back home. In the end we decided to stay at the…

On Saturday we went to Ascot races with my parents. It was their 50th Wedding Anniversary in April, so for their gift we’d booked a day at the races. Obviously we couldn’t let them go alone, so Simon and I went too! We had an absolutely amazing day. The weather, which had been a bit hit and miss all week, was lovely. The journey down to the hotel, was uneventful and there was a great atmosphere at the course. Me and Simon in our finest – I love getting glammed up! Despite searching for a new dress, in the end I decided to…